Hens gone bad: Separating the Bullies

[KIDDSBANTAMS]

I have one Barred rock and she is the head hen, but she is very sweet and is not mean at all, she is just the boss. The hens that were at the lower end of the pecking order were my bullies and were very mean to my new pullets, pecking at them all the time. After being together for several months they pretty much all get along, I think there are always differnet personalities with every breed and that you can't label all chickens in a certain breed being mean. My RIR was agressive, but not really mean, I think she just did not want to end up at the bottom of the pecking order, I think that is normal chicken behavior. I wish you luck with your chickens, but I think I would always be scared they would kill again.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Quote:
Nah, I'm okay with them establishing pecking order. What I'm not happy about is when they gang up and kill other birds. They were getting just a bit too nasty to the BO and had her shoved between the space between the nest and the fence. I lost two birds to them already and I'm not going to deal with that again, if I can help it.

 

[ellyn]

How isolated do you recommend? I have my BO in a dog crate in the run and will put her in the coop inside the dog crate tonight.
Do they need to be more isolated?

Thanks for any ideas!

E.

 

[SkyWarrior]

How isolated do you recommend? I have my BO in a dog crate in the run and will put her in the coop inside the dog crate tonight.
Do they need to be more isolated?

Thanks for any ideas!

E.

That should work.

 

[n8ivetxn]

I would recommend removing the bad bird from the sight of the rest of the flock - if they can see each other, I would be afraid she could still influence things and maintain her rank in the pecking order. If you completely remove her from sight, they *forget* about her and when she's reintroduced - she's at the bottom....